Multicultural Citizenship: Justice and Recognition of Difference for Indigenous Peoples in Brazil

Abstract

The fundamental rights recognised in Brazil’s Federal Constitution seek to guarantee all individuals a life with dignity. It turns out that such rights have been marked by a process of transformations based on social relations, which today incorporates the recognition of the differences between different peoples and cultural diversity. The objective of this work is to analyse how Kymlicka's multicultural citizenship proposal manages to extend the protection of justice and fundamental rights for indigenous peoples by combining the guarantee of individual rights with collective rights. A theoretical approach was used, supported by secondary sources, and, as a methodological procedure, bibliographical, documentary, and descriptive research. Given the framework presented, it is found that multicultural liberalism promotes the implementation of fundamental rights of Indigenous peoples, with the protection of minorities and differentiated rights, but within state political barriers and without ignoring individual responsibility, and placing the discussion within a broader context.